Once again our local broadband Internet provider, Cox Communications, is ratcheting up prices at a rate that is phenomenally higher than the rate of inflation. If it seems like they just jacked up our rates about a year ago, your memory serves you well.
It would be nice if there were some serious competition in town for the cable giant. AT&T off ers a basic DSL package to my neighborhood (which is just a mile east of the town square near schools and businesses), but nothing faster. That doesn’t really give us any consumer choice to speak of.
While many of us like to complain about the government in some way, shape or form, one thing that the city of Bentonville does an outstandingjob of is providing us with municipally-owned utilities. Our electric, sewer and water systems are incredibly reliable and safe with prices that are very attractive when compared to competing utilities in the region.
This leads me to believe that the city could also do an excellent job of providing broadband Internet to our town.
They’ve already got the billing infrastructure in place that would give them a savings over for-profi t private businesses like Cox.
Bentonville is moving by leaps and bounds into a more progressive future.
It’s clearly visible on the sidewalks and roadways throughout town. (It wasn’t that long ago that sidewalks were rare around here and now we’ve got a major sidewalk and trail system crisscrossing the city. East Central is being upgradedeven now.)
As part of our new brighter future here, we deserve a state-of-the-art broadband Internet system that can serve businesses, schools, city and county departments and oft ces as well as residential customers without squeezing our budgets to the breaking point.
Although I would foresee a paid service, it would also serve us well to explore the idea of providing service for free as part of Bentonville life.
Municipal broadband can’t happen overnight, so in the meantime we’ve got to deal with companies that think it’s OK to ramp up their rates by 27 percent in just over a year.
It’s time to pore over the legalities of what price increases are legal under the license that Cox has to serve our community.
If it’s found that theseincreases are allowable under current law, then it’s time for our City Council to get to work on creating some restrictions and guidelines that help to protect the citizens of our town from these vultures.
TROY JUZELER | Bentonville
CARTOON REVOLTING
I find the caricature on page 5A of today’s (March 13) newspaper disgusting, in poor taste, and an insult to our nation’s First Family.
Shame on the “cartoonist” who drew it, and shame on you for publishing it! I am very disappointed in your newspaper, which I normally respect.
WADE W. BURNSIDE | Fayetteville
Opinion, Pages 12 on 03/18/2012